By Calvin Biesecker
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Friday that it plans to begin pilot tests soon at Los Angeles International Airport of a system developed by L-3 Communications [LLL] that uses trace detection technology to screen individuals’ shoes for traces of explosives as they walk through a turnstile type of gate at aviation checkpoints.
TSA will test two of L-3’s PassPort explosive trace detection systems during the two to three month data collection effort, positioning the shoe scanners in front of walk through metal detectors for passengers to pass through. Passengers will still have to remove their shoes for screening by X-Ray machines as they pass through the checkpoint.
TSA has previously tested shoe scanning technology developed by General Electric [GE], whose system is based on quadrapole resonance technology to detect metal inside of shoes, but discontinued that effort saying the system did not meet its minimum requirements for explosives detection (Defense Daily, Oct. 11, 2007). TSA Administrator Kip Hawley told a House aviation subcommittee on Thursday that GE and the Department of Homeland Security continue to go through an iterative process with the company’s shoe scanner that involves upgrades and further tests.
Some, if not all of those additional tests, have taken place in the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s laboratory facility in Atlantic City, N.J.
L-3 introduced PassPort nearly two years ago as part of its proposed integrated checkpoint solution (Defense Daily, Oct. 17, 2006). As people walks through the gate, which stands about waist high, air is pushed across the base of the unit to disturb particles on their shoes for trace analysis.
In addition, PassPort features a paddle that brushes against a person’s torso as he or she moves through the portal, taking a trace sample from their clothing for analysis. Right above the paddle is a bar that a person pushes aside with his or her hands, again offering another trace sample for analysis.
“Passport’s direct contact design takes samples from hands, torso and feet–without the need for users to remove their shoes–enabling continuous traffic flow with no stopping or waiting,” L-3 says on its web site.
A TSA spokeswoman told Defense Daily the agency will be testing all three trace detection components of PassPort.
L-3 says the machine, which is based on its energetic material detection technology, can detect the presence of any explosive if it releases heat while decomposing. Examples of the types of explosives PassPort can detect include PETN, or pentrite, TATP, or Triacetone Triperoxide, RDX, nitrates and others, according to L-3. PassPort provides analytic results within seconds of a person exiting the system, allowing the next person to be screened, L-3 says.
L-3 is loaning the units to TSA for the tests. DHS S&T will also participate in the tests.